ISLAMABAD: The Economic Advisory Council (EAC) endorsed on Saturday Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s long-standing proposal for signing a ‘charter of economy’ by all political parties.

There was consensus among all members of the council that economic development of the country should be above all other considerations and remain so irrespective of change of governments. The fifth meeting of the council also expressed consensus on continued economic reforms.

Mr Dar presented a brief overview on current economic profile of the country focusing on developments related to the successful review of the IMF programme concluded recently and updates on the government’s privatisation programme.

He said that pre-budget recommendations of the last EAC meeting had been made part of the federal budget 2014-15 and their implementation was being actively pursued.

The minister told the meeting that key EAC recommendations had been incorporated in the budget and added “we have consistently followed up with all ministries to ensure their timely implementation”.

Mr Dar highlighted the initiatives undertaken by the government to eliminate the energy-side bottlenecks and informed that 7,000MW of electricity would be added to the national grid by 2018.

Finance Secretary Waqar Masood gave a presentation to the council on the economic situation of the country and shared recent growth figures for different sectors of economy. He talked about developments on fiscal, monetary measures, balance of payments situation and public debt fronts during the first six months of the current financial year.

Meeting agrees that economic development should be above all other considerations

It was discussed that inflation has been stable and economy is expected to grow around 5 per cent which will be a hallmark achievement. The meeting was apprised about recent measures for shifting short-term borrowing towards long term.

The Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, Tariq Bajwa, briefed the meeting about the latest position with regard to tax collection and additional taxation measures being undertaken. He apprised the meeting about the reform measures being carried out by the FBR to broaden the tax base and improve tax administration.

Dr Ashfaq Hasan Khan, a former adviser to the finance ministry, suggested measures for improvement in e-filing of returns and said it would facilitate taxpayers.

Dr Sania Nishter, a member of the council and head of the task force on social safety nets set up under the social sector sub-group of the council, informed the meeting that the task force would submit its final report within a month and highlighted key findings which had emerged from the group’s deliberations.

Farooq Rehmatullah from the energy sub-group shared important results from some of the analytical work undertaken on the growth potential of the aviation sector in Pakistan and the preparation of an ‘integrated energy plan’.

The council was informed that significant reforms had taken place since the previous meeting. The reforms include strengthening exports through a multi-pronged strategy and implementation of institutional and governance reforms; review of social safety net programmes to improve targeting, reduce overlapping, and increase efficiency; broadening the tax base by improving registration of new taxpayers, raising cost of non-compliance, streamlining payment process for taxpayers and bringing ‘high net worth individuals’ into the tax net.

The meeting was told that a ‘tax commission’ has been established to improve collection and administration of taxes. Other important reforms include ensuring operations at optimal efficiency level in the energy sector PSEs through strategic private sector participation.

The finance minister thanked members of the council for their active participation and informed them that the next meeting would be held before the next budget so that input and feedback of the forum could be incorporated into budgetary proposals.

Senior officials of various ministries, including the ministry of finance, and prominent economic experts were among those attending the meeting.

Published in Dawn February 22nd , 2015

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